The premise of Bedevilled is far from the simplicity that accompanies most slasher movies.� Bedevilled is about a young woman named  Hae-won  who retreats from her life in Seoul City to a small undeveloped island called Moodo.  While there, she meets up with a childhood friend,  Bok-nam, and discoveries that she is being used as a slave.  Bok-nam pleads with Hae-won to help her escape but Hae-won refuses, not wanting to get involved with the complicated situation.  Bok-nam attempts to escape with her daughter without Hae-won’s help and  her daughter is killed and she is recaptured.  This pushes Bok-nam over the edge.  She picks up a sickle and begins seeking vengeance on those who did her wrong.

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2008’s Thai horror 4BIA (SEE PRANG) thankfully makes for a satisfying movie experience. Separated into 4 short segments, each spot is directed and written by a different person, which surprisingly doesn’t affect the film’s cohesiveness or pace too much. Granted, some viewers may not pick up on the initial connection (the stories are seemingly connected but only make references to each  other in passing so pay attention) but since each story stands fairly well on its own, it doesn’t necessarily hinder the viewer.

The first segment, HAPPINESS (LONELINESS) is a solid supernatural thriller that’ll spook you out of your seat. A young woman named Pin (Maneerat Kham-uan)is healing from an injury and confined to her apartment starts to receive mysterious text messages that turn out to be coming from a sinister source. Directed by Youngyooth Thongkonthun, the almost dialogue less short is effective in dishing out the creepy scares and displays some strong acting chops from the lead actress. It’s definitely a stand out and worth multiple viewings.

The second segment TIT FOR TAT by Paween Purikitpanya� (YAN SANG TAI) revolves around a bullied schoolboy extracting his black magic fueled revenge on his tormentors. Told in the viewpoint of one of the offending classmates Pink(Apinya Sakuljaroensuk), it’s easily the most clichéd offering in the anthology. The story suffers from predictability and what can only be described as an insulting misuse of CGI. The saving point is the amount of gore and violent imagery used (including one eye popping experience)but it only helps bump TIT FOR TAT up to tolerable but forgettable on the watching scale. Purikitpanya’s last film BODY #19 is way more indicative of his skill as a director, and I would endorse that film over this particular offering.

Director Banjong Pisanthanakun brings us the fourth segment, a buddy buddy horror-in-the-woods flick fused with comedy titled IN THE MIDDLE (KON KLANG). It’s more humorous than terrifying, with tongue in cheek references to popular horror films but the writer/director of SHUTTER and ALONE manages to spice up blandness slightly with a cleverly executed variation on a well known twist tactic.

The last film in the series is arguably the best bang for your buck. Parkpoom Wongpoom, who can also boast SHUTTER and ALONE on his writing/directing resume, offers up a seriously scary dose of body bag phobia with THE LAST FRIGHT (TEAW BIN 244). A flight attendant Pim (played outstandingly by Laila Boonyasak)  is summoned for a special flight in which the Princess of Khurkistan will be the only passenger. What starts as a simple flight leads to a chain of events that will make anyone instantly believe that old adage about women scorned.

Overall, 4BIA is an accurate and favorable  representation of the burgeoning Thai horror genre. Yes, there are the usual missteps that have more to do with lack of original plot devices than actual quality, but it makes up for that with bold ingenuity. I would recommend it to connoisseurs and novices alike.

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Det. Keiko Kirishima (J-pop star Hitomi in her film debut) is intelligent and attractive, with a penchant for wearing skirt suits and heels. She has just transferred from a respected position investigating non violent crimes at the police academy to one doing field work at the local police station with lower ranking detectives. She is clearly not accustomed to field work, but her colleagues know she will most likely be promoted ahead of them due to her over qualifications. This and her prickly personality is a cause of tension between her and her colleagues, especially grizzled veteran Ishida and the younger Lt. Wakamiya (Masanobu Ando).

The police department starts to  investigate a series of puzzling suicides, the first of which has the auspicious honor of being Keiko’ first case. When the investigators arrive on the scene, they find a young woman’s gashed body on a bed inside her own locked apartment. While her teammates attribute the slaying to suicide, Keiko  astutely points out that the victim was heard screaming for help by her neighbors. Also, no note had been left which is usually standard in suicide cases. This is enough for Keiko to believe there is another less convenient explanation.

More clues are presented when another victim with similar slash marks is found dead. This time the victim’s wife is able to attest that her husband’s wounds were self inflicted. Strangely enough, the victim was asleep while he was attacking himself. The tenuous link between the two cases grows stronger when Kirishima discovers that both victims had dialed the same untraceable number right before their deaths. That and the possibility that both victims were asleep during the fatal incidents leads her to believe that some sort of latent hypnosis was used by the person on the other end of the phone call. But what is the connection between this person and the victims? How is he doing it?  Is it possible to have the power to kill in dreams?

The mystery of “O” becomes an urgent matter and recognizing that the case may be outside of the normal scope, the  chief of police divides the investigation team into two parts in order to effectively research any possible leads. To her dismay, the logical and rational Kirishima is chosen to lead the second unit, whose purpose is to capture “O” using unconventional, alternative routes (i.e the  Supernatural route). The now helpful Lt. Wakamiya is assigned under her, and the team is led to  Kyoichi Kagenuma (Ryuhei Matsuda), a troubled young man who has the extraordinary ability to enter people’s dreams.

Kagenuma is tormented by his skill and when the detectives first encounter him after a failed suicide attempt, he refuses to assist. The investigators have no choice but to move forward using one of their own as bait, and Wakamiya makes deadly contact with O, despite Kagenuma’s surprise intervention. A desperate act on Lt. Kirishima’s part forces the Nightmare Detective into action against “O”. What follows is a vicious and hallucinatory chase through the landscape of memory and dream. Who or what exactly is O? And can Kagenuma use his cursed ability stop him from killing in dreams ?

The film is a dreamy plot driven exploration focusing on the tenuous line between reality and fantasy. As the action further progresses into the bizarre, the violent and twisted narrative takes the viewer along with it. Director Shinya Tsukamoto has a library of films under his belt and Nightmare Detective is an adventurous amalgam of his previous works. There‘s tons of good quality gore, and I have to admit that the storyline kept me glued to the screen, not wanting to miss any breakthroughs or details. Tsukamoto himself plays the villain with such a chilling and deranged detachment, it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role. The villain’s dream form is CREEPY and Tsukamoto’s performance clearly stands out when compared to the tepid performance of the rest of the cast.

I expected Hitomi and Ando to sizzle onscreen, but all their scenes together fell flat and boring. Also, the film’s commitment to the abstract sets the stage for considerable confusion. The setting shifts from the real world to the dream world in the blink of an eye and Tsukamoto leaves it up to the viewer to discern which is which. There is little exposition or explanation, just jarring segues into the absurd that flip right back to the conventional storyline. The story itself requires total attention, and some intricacies of the plot end up lost in the jumble of the artistic licenses taken.

Nightmare Detective is definitely a film that requires multiple viewings to understand (At least it did on my part). It’s loyal to the Tsukamoto’s repertoire and fans will be satisfied at that, but in no way could this be considered his finest work. It’s not a bad effort by any means, but it’s a bit of a letdown because it doesn’t show us anything new from a director known for innovation and breakthrough. As a stand alone work, it’s a good alternative to most of the crap that could be considered Asian Horror although I would definitely recommend watching Tetsuo The Iron Man first to get a feel for what’s expected from the director.

And it was.

Not to say the graphics didn’t suck, because they did. Epically. But the movie was good enough to make up for a lot of that. The storyline is just as we remember it. Saya, Gianna Jun,  is a vampire working for a secret part of the government that kills vampires. In the film the setting is Japan post WW2. Saya infiltrates a military school to learn which of the students is a vampire (which she calls demons) in disguise. She befriends Alice Mckee, played by Allison Millier, when Saya saves her from two of the vamps who’re trying to kill her at the time.

The two happen to be two of the most irritating girls in the class, which would have been convenient for Saya’s conscience when she kills them, if she’d had one to begin with. I was pleasantly surprised to see Masiela Lusha, who plays Carmen on the George Lopez which appears on Nick at Night, as one of the vampires. She’s dyed blond and has swallowed a heavy duty bitch pill and the severe change to that from her persona on the show was great to see.  Anyway I love the budding friendship between Alice and Saya. The fight scenes in the movie are reminiscent of Flying tiger Hidden Dragon, which is expected since both movies share the same director.

Chris Nahon did some really cool effects with the blood to where it congealed into almost solid droplets once shed. Almost like flying jello. Sounds gross but once you get used to it it’s a nifty effect. This has all the requirements of an awesome anime remake. Flying ninjas, old sensei’s that look faintly like Mr. Miagi from the karate kid being torn apart by blades through all his major appendages, and finally and best of all, a Darth Vadar/Luke Skywalker type moment towards the end.

The combination of Japanese and American actors was perfect. There were never any awkward, um-what’s-up-with-this-combo moments. Gianna is flawless in the sword fighting and her acting is top notch. I think I actually shed a tear or two at one point or another. Allison Miller was a nice addition to the storyline and manages not to give Americans everywhere a bad name like some of the actors.

But back to my biggest complaint. The people were good, the people almost turning into vamps were good, Saya in demon mode was good as well as Onigen’s, played by Koyuki, transformation into demon from hell (literally). But full on vamps, complete with wings and gaping, hungry jaws and beady red eyes…yeah, I could have gouged my eyes out. At one point in the movie it was like an animated computer monster (created on the older version of Mac) was spliced onto the film at the appropriate times.  I understand the fact that the Asian film graphics aren’t as advanced as the stuff in the U.S, but hey. There’s Americans in the movie, which means that Nahon would have been allowed to mooch off some of our blue screen technology. Thankfully the monster half of the movie isn’t the last thing you see and he makes up for his previous visual faux pas during the fight with Onigen and Saya.

One cool concept that I liked about the movie was the references that kept being made between the unseen world of the vampires and that of Alice in Wonderland’s looking glass. That they have a character named Alice could either be deliberate or a coincidence that was taken appropriate advantage of. Either way it works and it’s a nice way to tie things together.

Blood: The Last Vampire premiered in theatres in Japan in May of this year and though some recommend that you watch the animated movie first, I personally don’t really think it matters. Though both should be watched as many times as possible. It’s a great 3D addition to anyone’s Blood pack of goodies. It made me want to go back and pay more attention to the anime. Which I will do just as soon as I have the cash to raid the nearest video store.

Blood: The Last Vampire was directed by Chris Nahon and written Chris Chow (screenplay) and Kanji Kamiyama (character)

Slowly.

I don’t say this just because I’m not the brightest bulb in the happy meal either. Everyone may make fun of the half naked chick who runs through the forest, screams, trips, falls, and then dies, but you’ve never seen her tortured now have you? In Final Destination it wasn’t the dumb people who stayed on the plane or who decided to ride the coaster anyway who died in drawn out, bloody ways. No, it was the smart asses who escaped and tried to come up with inventive solutions to get out of what was going on which only seemed to tick off death in the end. Hence the inventive little murders like death by fishhooks and elevator doors, and suffocating on a plastic fish in the dentist’s office while you’re doped up on Novocain.

The point is, be smart by not being smart.

Lay down and die and you won’t have another hour and a half of screaming, blood and gore torture to go through. Personally I think it’s a win, win situation. Mike Meyers meets his quota for the week and as a result you’ve helped out your fellow man.

Or serial killer.

Death Bell is a perfect example of what I mean. Not to say that they follow my advice and lie down and die, oh no. They do me one better.

For the first half of the film, they let everyone else die instead. Death Bell is like the ultimate version of a reverse Saw, if you don’t get the puzzles right, it’s not you who suffers for the failure, but your friends and classmates.

It is, in a purely horror filmy way, Epic.

The spicy heroine of the film Kang Yi-na, played by Nam Gyu-ri, has just been chosen as one of the top twenty students in her school, along with Kim Bum as Kang Hyeon, Yi-Na’s love interest, and her best friend Yoon Myong-hyo, played by Han Na-yeon. This special class, filled to the brim with the elite, is held over the break to get the students ready for their college entrance exams. At first it simply seems like another boring study session, but about halfway through things begin to go horribly wrong.

Beethoven’s Fur Elise heralds the chilling image of Hye-yeong, the class’s top student, trapped inside a giant fish tank on the class’s television screen. On the glass, framing the terrified girl as she scrambles and tries to beat her way out of her makeshift coffin, is a riddle. A disembodied voice over the intercom informs the shocked students along with the three remaining teachers in the school, that the riddle needed an answer before the girl died.

Then the tank, once empty, begins to slowly fill with water.

The first victim in the movie never had a chance. Terrified and disbelieving, by the time the students finish arguing with each other as well as the head teacher Hwang Chan-wook, English teacher Choi So-yeong, as well as Lee Chi-yeong who seems to hate  Kang Hyeon and blames him for what’s going on at every opportunity, it is only to look up and find Hye-yeong floating, lifeless, inside of the tank.

The bell plays once again and the voice warns that should anyone try and leave the school then they would be killed. Their cell phones have disappeared along with the student in charge of collecting them. The school’s security and phone lines have been cut. The grounds are being watched and those who leave are taken out by an invisible enemy. And everywhere they look, one of their numbers is taken only to be replaced by yet another riddle that could mean their life or death. Students are being murdered in order of their ranking and Yi-na is fifth on the list.

The difficulty of the questions increase as night falls, and with each answer and each death, the shocking truth about the schools most securely kept secret begins to make itself known.

As the only Korean film released in 2008, Death Bell premiered at the 12th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival. Though rushed in order to be ready for the festival in time, Death Bell turned out to be one of the top five most popular horror film in Korea. Not nearly as shattering as A Tale of Two Sisters, but still satisfying enough to keep horror lovers fat and happy.   So while some critiques may dub it ‘torture porn’ they obviously can’t appreciate a good thing when they see it. I’ll admit that the buildup is more exciting than its subsequent ending, but all in all the film was tied nicely together. I would have loved to see what former music video director Yoon Hong-seun could have done with his first horror film had he had more time.

The film marks the acting debut of Korean pop star Nam Gyu-ri, as well as comic aficionado Lee Beom-soo’s first ever role in the world of the dark and bloody. Both do a good enough job that it won’t be surprising if we see them again this genre. Gyu-ri and Kim Bum have amazing chemistry together and add in the dedication between Gyu-ri and Han Na-yeon, and the three of them make a devastating triad. One where the loss of any of them turns the senselessness of their deaths into something more than ‘torture porn’ and converts it into something entirely more poignant.

Death Bell or Gosa, was written Yoon Hong-Seung and Kim Eun-Kyeong and directed by Yoon Hong-Seung

A Very Short Life (Deun Chaam Dik Sung Ming) is a mostly bleak 2009 Drama set in modern day Hong Kong. Dennis Law’s fifth film reunites him with actors Maggie Sui and Cheung Sui-Fai, both of whom he worked with on his previous efforts. Law’s first effort with actress Leila Kong(who is fondly remembered for her role in Once Upon A Movie) is a forceful portrayal of a Hong Kong police commissioner’s investigation into a child sex abuse case. Among the themes of child abuse and molestation, Law also explores the questionable nature of the duty that binds women to the needs of men.

As the movie opens we are briefly introduced to Heiyi Ho (YoYo Law), the 11 year old girl whose murder provides the framework of the film. Her tragic story is told through a series of flashbacks within a flashback, with the main story being recounted by Hong Kong police inspector Cat Lam (Pinky Cheung) at a dinner party. It is at this party that Lam finds herself seated next to property developer and filmmaker Dennis Law (Cheung Siu-Fai, playing a character named and based on the writer/director himself).

Soon, the combination of alcohol and newfound camaraderie leads the conversation past small talk and onto deeper subjects, such as Lam’s own personal experiences with sex abuse as part of the HK District Crime Squad. It is within this context that Lam reveals the startling details of a child sex abuse case she worked on 2 years prior, the case of young Heiyi Ho.

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The viewer is then transported from the jovial dinner party to the grim offices of P.I Lam at the time of the investigation into Ho’s death. One particular day, her casual office meal of rice, meat and beer is interrupted by the stern arrival of no-nonsense Commissioner Josephine Wong (Maggie Sui). Accompanied by police sergeant Ivy and a criminologist by the name of Barbara (as acted by Sherman Tang and Koni Lui), Wong has arrived to re-interrogate current inmate Becky Lee (played by Leila Kong) the young mother of the now deceased Heiyi Ho.

Lee has confessed to accidentally beating her own daughter to death, however, the Commissioner is more focused on the horrific evidence of sexual abuse found on the body of young Heiyi Ho. Becky Lee’s live-in boyfriend has been apprehended by Lam and has admitted to being the abuser, but Lee herself has maintained ignorance of the ongoing sexual abuse that was occurring in their cramped one room home. This denial in Lee’s police statement draws disbelief and ire on Wong’s part, as there is strong evidence supporting the sexual abuse charge. As soon as the criminal arrives, it becomes clear that Josephine Wong is set on a raging path to uncover the truth regarding Lee’s knowledge of the abuse.

The investigators are merciless in their treatment of the weak and pathetic Lee. As the subservient criminal continues to plead ignorance, the team responds with more violent forms of questioning. Kong is beaten, degraded, and sexually harassed by the female team over the course of the interrogation. The intense manner of the exchange prompts Lee, at times, to think back to telling incidents in her and Hyo’s home life. However, she maintains she had no idea of the abuse. Eventually, she reaches her breaking point and the graphic climax leads to the discovery of this mother’s truth, as well as a look into the truth of Josephine Wong.

Law manages to perfectly capture the tense nature of the female relationships and interactions in this film. The all female team is mainly very unforgiving in their treatment of Lee. At one point, she is brutally cavity searched and mockingly sexually harassed. In another scene, she is stripped naked, splashed in cold water and forced to stand in a room with the air conditioner turned up very high. The stoic demeanors of the women are in sharp contrast to the emotionally charged proceedings. The verbal interrogation scenes are particularly suspenseful, with the conversations between Josephine Wong and Becky Lee expertly showcasing the differences between the two women. It’s done so well that the reveal of their unlikely similarity manages to slightly surprise in a movie already full of grim revelations.

The film is in no way gentle in regards to its subject matter. The ugly facts of the case are not left out or glossed over. While there is no sexual abuse physically shown on camera, the viewer is subject to many uncomfortable moments, such as a scene in which Becky Lee is physically restrained with her eyes forced open and made to watch video evidence uncovered of her daughter being sexually abused. Her daughter’s whimpering on the television is clearly audible and Lee’s anguished eyes fill up the screen. Law does not pan away or have the shot fade into black. Instead, the camera stays focused on her face as the audience and Lee come to terms with what has just been intimated. There is also a suicide scene that is shot frame by frame, forcing he audience to sit and watch the carnage unfold. The movie is filled with these visceral moments and each one is laid out frankly, without insulting the intelligence of the viewer.

While the movie moved at an efficient pace, it did feel as if there was extraneous material that slowed the plot down. There were scenes that probably could have been left out without doing any damage to the film’s theme, like the prolonged molestation cut aways. In contrast, a secondary plot involving Josephine Wong and her daughter could have had a more serious impact on the viewer if that plot was explored deeper It felt as if her story was hurried through in order to end the film on one of its few hopeful moments. Overall it’s a serious film with great acting, especially on the part of Maggie Sui and Leila Kong, who have a unique palpable chemistry that further serves their character development.

At times excruciating to watch, the film is a frank portrayal of a subject normally taboo in Hong Kong cinema. It manages to avoid being exploitative and melodramatic by approaching the subject in a honest, simplistic way that is rare in any film.

CAST

Leila Tong … Becky Lee

Maggie Siu … Police Commissioner Josephine Wong

Pinky Cheung … Inspector Cat Lam

Samuel Pang … Jo

Koni Lui … Barbara

Sherman Tang … Ivy

Wai-yan Cheung … Joey

Yoyo Law … Ho Heiyi

Siu-Fai Cheung … Dennis Law

‘Thirst‘ follows the life of Sang-hyun, a priest who cherishes life so much that he selflessly volunteers for a secret vaccine development project meant to eradicate a deadly virus. But the virus takes hold of the priest and a blood transfusion is urgently ordered for him. The blood he receives is infected, so Sang-hyun lives – but now exists as a vampire. Struggling with his newfound carnal desire for blood, Sang-hyun’s faith is further strained when a childhood friend’s wife comes to him asking for his help in escaping her life. Sang-hyun soon plunges into a world of sensual pleasures, finding himself on intimate terms with the Seven Deadly Sins.

Should be a good movie as the director is the same from the classic Old Boy. If you have seen the movie please feel free to comment.

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A Tale Of Two Sisters is a Korean suspense drama which I saw a lot of talk about on the various Asian film forums. Once I found out that it was reputed to be a spine-tingly scary film, I decided not to read another post on it, as I didn’t want anything to be ruined. Alas, it took me a number of months before I got round to actually buying the film, so I missed out on the initial euphoria and being caught up in the buzz. That did not serve to lesson the experience when I finally watched it though. In fact it may have even helped as the ‘buzz’ had died down a little, so any preconceptions had also decreased. For me, A Tale Of Two Sisters was a truly unique experience, as it became the first film that I  watched for a second time within an hour or so of the first viewing. It engrossed and captivated me so much that I just had to see it again to better understand it.

“…to better undestand it.” Everyone who watches this film wants to improve in that area. A Tale Of Two Sisters is a very confusing film, a bit of a mind-f*@k to quote a phrase, but at no point does this work against the film. Everything about the film sucks you in, keeps you completely captivated from start to finish, and once it has finished it subconsciously begs you to watch it again. Watch it again so that you can see one of the important details which you missed first time round, so you can marvel again at the intelligence of the script and story, so you can stare in wonder at the incredible cinematography or so you can simply be involved in the story and emotion again. A Tale Of Two Sisters is a film which you absolutely have to see more than once.

Can you tell that I liked the film yet? Well I did, very much so. In fact, A Tale Of Two Sisters is probably among my favourite films of all time. This is one of those films which is very much story driven, and as such I am only going to give the briefest of plot summaries, as I wouldn’t want to lesson or ruin the experience in any way. In fact I’m just going to quote the synopsis from the back of the DVD.

Two sisters, Su-mi (Im Su-Jeong) and Su-yeon (Mun Geun-Yeong), come home after recovering from a long illness. Their new stepmother Eun-joo (Yeom Jeong-A) welcomes them, but Su-mi, the elder sister, intentionally avoids her while Su-yeon is quite scared of her weird stepmother. After their first dinner back home, Su-mi and Su-yeon go to bed in their dark and dismal rooms. One day, Mu-hyun (the girls’ father) goes into town and Su-mi can’t find her sister Su-yeon anywhere. Feeling petrified, Su-mi looks all over the house for her sister and then discovers bloody stains on the floor…

In all honesty, films of the quality of A Tale Of Two Sisters are very much in the minority. Even other films that are very good entertainment and ones that I would gladly give 4+ out of 5 for, quite often don’t have a lasting impact. They were excellent entertainment, which is one of the most important factors for films in my opinion, but they didn’t have much beyond that. Films like A Tale Of Two Sisters, though, do leave a significant impression. They leave you thinking about the film, its intricacies, all the clever details, your interpretation of events that took place and about the overall experience that was watching the film.

To highlight one of the many excellent aspects to the film, I’m going to comment on the cinematography that is on display. If you have read many of my reviews, then you’ll know that this isn’t an aspect of films that I bring up much when writing reviews. The reason for this is that I don’t normally notice, or rather, I don’t really appreciate the cinematography in most films, unless it is really something special. The only other film which I can recall discussing/noticing it in was Zhang Yimou’s Hero. It was one of the most aesthetically beautiful films I have ever seen. A Tale Of Two Sisters is right up there in that standard, although the look of the film is totally different. Just about every single scene is made to have immense amount of atmosphere, which would not have been possible if it wasn’t for the camera angles and lighting being spot on every time. In the highly suspenseful and scary scenes, you see just enough to maximise the effect without over doing it. I certainly have not been so scared while watching a film for quite a long time. Credit must also be given to the artistic set design crew. Depending on the lighting, the same set can successfully look calm and comforting or eerie and quite freaky.

Another aspect of most films which I don’t mention too much in my reviews is the music score, again mostly because I don’t generally have much appreciation for that sort of thing, and only really notice its effect when it is really good. This is a film that is made for a 5.1 audio set-up. Having various sound effects and screeching musical instruments (where appropriate) coming at you from all directions not only immerses you right into the film’s soundstage, but it also scares the crap out of you! In the musical score there are a lot of your usual instruments, piano, violin etc., the sort of things you’d normally expect. To contrast this, at times there are also some very digital sounding effects, kind of like some sounds which were made by old video games consoles. There is one scene (which was very scary) where I noticed this in particular. Despite striking me as an unusual sound effect/musical score segment to be hearing, what surprised me more was that it worked! It made the scene more frantic, my heart pound faster, and added to the originality of the effect.

A Tale Of Two Sisters, admittedly, does start very slowly and in lesser films this would prove to disrupt the film’s pace, or simply bore the viewer. I am the first to admit that I have a short attention span, but remarkably I was not bored in the slightest; I was extremely curious and intrigued. The reason for this is that at that at the very start of the film we see Su-mi in a hospital being asked questions, but with no answers. No indication is given as to what this is about. Then we see what looks like a normal family returning home, and everything appears perfectly calm and normal. But when Eun-joo enters the frame, despite being very cheery and happy looking, something just doesn’t feel right. There is no explanation as to what this niggle is, but something comes across as being really rather strange, and through natural curiosity I found I was completely sucked in to the film.

Credit for this has to go to the excellent performances from all four main cast members. In my opinion, there is less to fault in the acting between all four leads than there usually is for the main lead in most other films. Believe me, these people can act, especially the three women. The smallest role of the four belongs to the father (Kim Gab-Su). Kim Gab-Su puts across a man very much in emotional pain. He appears to always have a lot on his mind, and is distant to family. I can’t really give much explanation for his emotions or how the viewer comes to understand why he acts the way he does without potentially giving away major parts of the story, so I’ll have to leave him at that. Next is the younger sister Su-yeon, acted by Mun Geun-Yeong. She comes across as the weaker of the two sisters. She’s frightened of her stepmother, and convincingly so. The fear in her eyes looks as real as you could hope to see, the comfort in her manner when she is close to her sister is highly believable and the despair and sorrow are equally real.

Despite giving an excellent performance, she is still upstaged by the remaining two. Trying to say one of Yeom Jeong-A or Im Su-Jeong acts better than the other is a foolish task as for me they were both absolutely outstanding. Yeom Jeong-A plays the stepmother Eun-joo. Her character really is quite fascinating, as she changes significantly from start to finish. When we first see her she is cheerily greeting the sisters on their return, but the way she is and the way she delivers her speech is just a fraction off normal to make it easy to see that there is something in the atmosphere not quite right. As the film progresses and we see other sides of her character, we see her to be quite an eerie woman. Maybe the fact that her hair very frequently covers her right eye adds to the eeriness of her character, but she is brilliantly portrayed as being not quite the way she seems. The fear and ferocity also are made to seem real by Yeom Jeong-A, and despite her thin stature she can come across as a menacing woman.

The main character in the film is Su-mi, played by Im Su-Jeong. She is a little older than she is portrayed to be in the film, but for a young woman she leads the film superbly. Her character is given the opportunity to have far more emotional range than the others, and in every case I thought the performance were flawless. The scenes where she is in bed and gets a scare and where she is trying to untie the knot into the sack, I was very impressed at how natural and real the way she moved and acted came across. The terror, anxiety, fear was not only in her actions but very much in her eyes as well. Her character is the stronger of the two sisters, and promises to always protect her younger sister. This strength in character is very apparent when she is talking to her stepmother as you can practically feel the tension between them oozing out of your TV screen. I’ll have doubts as to whether Im Su-Jeong could ever top this performance, or even come close to the level she reaches here. Hopefully I’ll see more of her films sometime to find out, as she has certainly got herself a standard to live up to now!

The last ‘character’ that I want to mention is the house itself. This house has character in abundance. Its design from the outside has possibly the most stereotypical aspect to the whole film. It does look a bit like a typical horror movie house. The wood is dark and broody, and the hallways look very creepy with what little light there is not having much of an effect on the dark wood. Most of the bedrooms appeared to have floral patterned wallpaper or something to that effect. Beforehand, I was under the impression that that sort of wallpaper was typical family type wallpaper and was meant to instil warmth and so on in a house. Not here. Maybe because there is just that creepy eerie sense about everywhere in the house that the familyness of the wallpaper just feels very much out of place. Things look different in the kitchen, where there is the colours are bolder making the place look much more vibrant and contrastingly bright. This contrast in styles of the different areas of the house just builds on the atmosphere, and adds to the feeling that ‘something isn’t quite right’.

When people think of Asian suspense/horror films Ring (aka Ringu) is probably the most famous of them all, and Dark Water and The Eye are two other names which are likely to get a mention quickly. While each has its own original aspect to it, most use the classic ‘black hair covering the face’ person at some point, and generally are accused of trying to copy the success of Ring. While A Tale Of Two Sisters also has the black hair person in one scene, for all the Asian horror films I’ve seen it is still probably the most original after Ring, and is a serious attempt from South Korea at creating something to equal the classics. No doubt a Hollywood remake will be made at some point soon, but I can only hope that this film gets the credit and exposure it deserves, and over the years when people think of the great Asian suspense/horror films the name A Tale Of Two Sisters is mentioned up near the top. I think it has earned that right.

[Rating:5/5]

Reposted from Dark Dragon Style.

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The movie follows the life of a young high school student who’s got a loving family, sister and doing wellin class, but everything changes the day she witnessed how her aunt was pushed from the balcony on her wedding day by her husband to be and how her aunt’s sister hacked her to death while recuperating at the hospital. After that incident people around her started acting strange, everyone around her wanted to kill her including her own mother. Just then her dad ask her to go and see somebody which might be of great help only to be tormented with what she discovered when she went and see the man. She finds herself plagued with never ending questions and it was too late when she found out the truth about what’s been happening around her.

Review:

I find this movie packed with intense excitement and tons of scare considering the fact that everyone around her want her to die. I love the twist of the movie and I strongly say this movie beats Psycho in ways more than once.

I love how the movie in its lean and mean spirited way was able to convey its message that each and every one of us has jealousy, rage and darkness in our hearts seem far more dangerous considering the evil force lurking around waiting to make such dark wishes to come true. The movie is telling the audience “be careful what you wish for”.

This is the best Korean horror movie I have seen this year; very entertaining and packed with great scare and gore. I definitely recommend this movie to all horror freaks out there as this one will definitely keep you at the edge of your seat and it is worth your time.

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